After CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert told viewers that lawyers representing his old Comedy Central show said he couldn’t be “Stephen Colbert” anymore, he thumbed his nose at them with a transparent dodge.

Lawyers representing his old company complained to CBS after he revived the character he played under his own name on The Colbert Report – a clueless, full-of-himself cable news host. They said that the character “Stephen Colbert” was their intellectual property, “which is surprising, since I never considered that guy much of an intellect”, Colbert said on the Late Show on Wednesday.